The Night Hunters

Jason's punishment:2

The next morning, commander Keenan sent Jason to the armory, to start scrubbing the armor. The armory was next to the weaponry in the castle basement, where the floors were made of hard stone. In the two rooms everyone's armor and weapons hung. Swords, battle axes, flails, and hammers were some of the weapons that the night hunters used. All the weapons and armor that hung here were forged and crafted by the dwarves in Oscana. Jason's sword among them. The one his father had given to him. But at this moment, Jason was sitting on a wooden bench in the room where everybody's armor hung. Not where the weapons were. His job was to wash all of the armor. He didn't like it one bit. Often the armor that everyone wore for fighting hostile creatures were sweaty, dirty, and occasionally, they even had a little blood on them. While Jason was cleaning, his thoughts started to drift. He didn't realize he was choking the sponge he held to clean. He kept muttering insults, angry with Keenan. Why was he being punished when it's his friend that got out last night? Then he was thinking. Why did Jeffrey go out that late without the commander's knowledge?

Suddenly the door open. It was one of the other night hunters, Tony Williams. He was one night hunter who lived in Alton's village instead of the castle. He said he preferred living with his wife rather than in the dormitory along with twenty more men and women. Jason thought he was kind of young to have a wife. But he was nineteen while Tony was maybe twenty four years old? But still. Tony was slightly taller than him. His hair was greasy black, his beady brown eyes stared down at him. He had a couple of scars on his arms from fighting, and often bragged about having the best armor. Jason grit his teeth, preparing for the accent he really hated.

"Bowel, commander Keenan told me to tell you to make sure to scrub each piece of armor for five minutes, to make sure that the blood stains disappear. "

He gave him a nasty smile. Jason mirrored his expression.

"I'm sure he'll be happy to know that yours didn't have any dirt or blood on it."

Jason smirked at him.

"It must mean, you don't do enough work around here."

He showed him the perfectly clean chest plate. Tony didn't know where Jason was taking this.

"Here, I'll make it look like you at least dented the front of it."

Jason banged it on the side of the metal bucket.

"Watch it! Or I'll make sure Keenan has even more work for you."

They were interfered by another knock at the door. The commander's daughter, Lydia entered with another female night hunter. Lydia looked just like her father. The other girl had long brown hair with blue highlights. Jason didn't know the other girl, but he looked up at Lydia as she started speaking.

"Hi sorry for interrupting your conversation, but would my chest plate be in there?" She pointed her bow at the bucket Jason was using to wash the armor. Jason froze for a second.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, it's not washed yet but, it will be in here when it is."

"OK thanks. You're the guy that my dad banned from hunting, right?"

She asked.

Tony gave him another nasty grin.

"Thanks for reminding me."

Jason looked embarrassed.

"Don't take it personally, he sometimes overreacts and makes it sound like it's everybody's fault."

"Yep."

Jason answered.

"Well Thanks again for my armor, see you around."

And the two girls left the small room.

Jason waved his soap covered hand.

Tony waited until they were out of the room before speaking.

'So, I'll let you go back to your cleaning. I'm going to go train some more. Make sure you don't dent my armor or I will let the commander know."

He left.

Jason hated the fact that Tony was allowed to hunt when he was stuck washing dirty armor. He then remembered his thoughts on why Jeffrey was out so late. Since he finished washing most of the armor, He thought if Jeffrey was awake in the infirmary, he could go ask him about last night. So he went to put the last of the armor to dry, and headed off to the infirmary.

Down the hall, he met the nurse taking care of Jeffrey.

"Hey would you know if Jeffrey Lucas is awake?"

"He is, but don't talk to him too long, he needs to rest."

Jason nodded. He opened the door and saw Jeffrey in a bed covered in bandages. It reminded Jason of when he and Jeffrey were younger. Once Jeffrey broke his arm while they were trying to cross a river together. Jeffrey slipped and he hit his arm on a rock. They always went on little adventures when they were younger. Jeffrey had short brown hair. Despite being a couple of months younger than Jason was, Jeffrey was a little taller than him. He looked up at the sight of Jason.

"Hey how goes the night hunting?"

Jeffrey asked him. Jason bit his lip.

"Not good, because I have been banned temporarily. "

"Oh sorry about that."

"It's fine. I was wondering, what were you doing out there so late?"

Jason asked.

His friend hesitated for a second.

"Well I wanted to know if there was a kind of dragon we haven't hunted yet. So I came To commander Keenan's office to ask about it, I heard him talking to Tony. I heard him say that he was going to ban you for good."

"What?"

"Yeah he was telling Tony how often you don't listen to what he says. And that the things you hunt down aren't worth as much as what Tony brings. I wanted to come and warn you. You know that the quickest way to get to the dinning hall from the meeting room is from outside. So I ran quickly into the woods to get to the dinning hall. But then I heard something through the trees and I realized I wasn't alone in the woods. And when you arrived just in time before the dragon killed me, I was too weak to tell you what happened."

"That's why Tony seemed such in a good mood."

Jeffrey looked confused.

"He came to gloat while I was washing the armor."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Jeffrey started scratching his head.

"It's too bad that the commander is not appreciative of all the work you do around here."

Jeffrey tried to make Jason feel better.

"Thanks, I'm glad I have a friend like you."

But Jason was still upset. How could the commander not see that he has done a lot to keep the village safe?

"Maybe you can talk to your uncle about the banning thing. He could maybe talk to Keenan about it? "

Jason looked at his friend. "You know what, I might do that. He might not be my father, but he's the closest thing, right?"

He was thinking of a way to explain the situation, to his uncle Brad.

"Yeah. I think I should get some rest. But tell me if your uncle said anything helpful."

Jeffrey told him shifting his body carefully for it to rest. Jason nodded and left the infirmary.